The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Pepperdine
No. 24 Women’s Tennis Preview: No. 8 Pepperdine (NCAA Round of 16)
05.17.2016 | Women's Tennis
Longhorns meet No. 8 national seed Pepperdine in first NCAA round of 16 appearance since 2012.
WHAT: No. 24 Texas (16-8) joins 15 teams at The University of Tulsa for the final rounds of the NCAA Championships.
For a second straight tournament round, Texas will meet a higher-seeded opponent whom it met during the regular season. The Longhorns are set to meet No. 8 national seed Pepperdine as the Longhorns make their first round-of-16 appearance since 2012.
NCAA Championships Third Round (Round of 16)
No. 24 Texas (16-8) vs. No. 8 Pepperdine (23-2)
Thursday, May 19 – 4 p.m. CT
Michael D. Case Tennis Center – Tulsa, Oklahoma
*Round of 16 and remaining rounds hosted by The University of Tulsa
LIVE SCORING/VIDEO:
http://tulsahurricane.com/sports/2016/3/24/2016-ncaa-division-i-mens-and-womens-tennis-championships.aspx
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS BRACKET
http://www.ncaa.com/interactive-bracket/tennis-women/d1
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS AT A GLANCE
- Texas holds a 2-3 mark this season against teams that reached the round of 16. UT defeated No. 16 national seed Texas Tech last month in Lubbock and knocked off No. 10 national seed Michigan two months ago in Austin. Texas fell to Texas Tech in the Big 12 Championships quarterfinals and suffered defeats to No. 8 national seed Pepperdine and No. 12 seed Oklahoma State.
- Big 12 members Texas Tech and Oklahoma State join Texas in the field of 16. The SEC (Georgia, Florida, Auburn, Vanderbilt) and ACC (Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia) bring four teams apiece to Tulsa. The Pac-12 (California, Stanford) and Big 10 (Michigan, Ohio State) bring two teams apiece, and Pepperdine represents the West Coast Conference.
- Texas is one of nine schools to send both its men's and women's tennis programs to the round of 16 this week. The others are Virginia, Oklahoma State, Florida, Ohio State, Georgia, North Carolina, California and Stanford.
NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS HISTORY
Texas is making its 33rd NCAA tournament appearance. UT holds a 48-30 record at the NCAA Championships. The Longhorns captured NCAA team titles in 1993 and 1995 and posted NCAA runner-up finishes in 1992 and 2005.
Texas is making its first NCAA Championships appearance since 2014 and its first round of 16 match since 2012.
LAST TIME OUT
Texas earned its trip to the round of 16 the hard way with a neutral-site win over William & Mary and a 4-2 win over No. 9 national seed Duke on the Blue Devils' home courts in Durham, North Carolina.
Texas eliminated William & Mary from the opening round of the NCAA Championships for the second in the last three years, having done so in 2013. Against Duke, who defeated Texas by a 4-3 count earlier this season, the Longhorns dropped the doubles point but produced four singles wins to seal the stunning victory.
Sophomore Dani Wagland and freshman Katie Poluta evened the match at two with straight-sets singles wins at the third and fourth positions. UT picked up a huge win from senior Lana Groenvynck, who overpowered Duke's Christina Makarova in the second set at sixth singles and gave the Horns a 3-2 lead.
Junior Neda Koprcina won the first set and trailed Duke's 118th-ranked Samantha Harris through much of the second set at No. 2 singles. The All-Big 12 standout from Croatia yielded nothing to Harris in the second-set tiebreaker and sealed the 4-2 win for the Longhorns.
LAST MEETING vs. PEPPERDINE
UT's most recent match against Pepperdine came Feb. 26 at the Blue-Gray Tennis Classic in Montgomery, Alabama. Texas won the doubles point but Pepperdine ran off four singles wins and posted a 4-1 victory over the Longhorns.
UT holds a 14-9 advantage in its all-time series against Pepperdine.
ITA Rankings (May 5)
Singles
6. Luisa Stefani, Pepperdine
10. Breaunna Addison, Texas
122. Neda Koprcina, Texas
Doubles
16. Breaunna Addison/Dani Wagland, Texas
19. Matea Cutura/Christine Maddox, Pepperdine
26. Luisa Stephanie/Apichaya Runglerdkriangkrai, Pepperdine
ADDISON NAMED BIG 12 PLAYER OF THE YEAR
The Big 12 Conference announced May 12 the selection of Texas senior Breaunna Addison as the 2016 Big 12 Women's Tennis Player of the Year. Addison also earned first team All-Big 12 honors in singles and in doubles with sophomore Dani Wagland. UT junior Neda Koprcina earned first team All-Big 12 honors in singles.
The 10th-ranked Addison, who won the league's top honor as a sophomore in 2014, is the second Longhorn to win the award multiple times and the first since Sandy Sureephong (1997-98). Addison is the fifth player in the league's 20-year history to win Player of the Year twice or more.
Addison took a 34-3 overall singles record into the NCAA Championships. The two-time All-American produced an 18-1 mark in dual matches and a 7-0 record in Big 12 action, all at No. 1 singles.
Addison has earned her fourth consecutive NCAA Championships singles bid and her second NCAA Championships doubles berth. As a first-semester freshman in 2013, the Boca Raton, Florida, native became just the third Longhorn ever to reach the singles semifinals at the NCAA Championships.
The 123rd-ranked Koprcina was named to the All-Big 12 first team in singles after posting a 23-8 overall singles record, a 19-1 mark in dual matches and a spotless 8-0 record in league singles play.
Addison and Wagland earned their second All-Big 12 doubles selection together in as many years, and Addison won the third such honor of her career. The 16th-ranked tandem holds a 24-7 overall record including a 15-3 mark in dual matches and a 4-1 league record.
ADDISON, KOPRCINA EARN ITA REGIONAL HONORS
The ITA selected Texas senior Breaunna Addison as the ITA Texas Region Senior Player of the Year and UT junior Neda Koprcina as the ITA Texas Region Player to Watch, the governing body announced May 9. Both student-athletes advance to the national ballot for additional awards consideration.
Addison collected her third career ITA postseason award. She was named the ITA Texas Region Rookie of the Year in 2013 and the region's Player to Watch in 2014. Koprcina collected her first ITA postseason honor.
The ITA Player to Watch award goes to a student-athlete who is expected to be one of the top returning regional players next year but who has not won the ITA Texas Regional Championship or an ITA national event.
ADDISON, WAGLAND EARN INDIVIDUAL NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS BIDS
Texas All-America senior Breaunna Addison has earned her fourth consecutive singles berth and will join UT sophomore Dani Wagland in the doubles draw at the NCAA Championships.
Addison, the Big 12's automatic qualifier into the NCAA singles draw, received a "9-16" seed into the NCAA singles draw. In 2013, she became the first Texas freshman and just the third Longhorn ever to reach the singles semifinals at the NCAA Championships.
Wagland earned her first individual NCAA Championships berth alongside Addison, who will compete for a second time in the NCAA doubles draw. The Big 12's automatic qualifiers into the NCAA doubles draw, Addison and Wagland totaled a 22-7 overall doubles mark including a 13-3 record in dual matches.
The NCAA singles and doubles draws will be released later this month.
ADDISON, KOPRCINA FINISH CONFERENCE PLAY UNBLEMISHED
UT senior Breaunna Addison and junior Neda Koprcina progressed through conference play without a loss and became the first Texas tandem to complete the feat since Elizabeth Begley and Lina Padegimaite in 2012.
Addison, who also went undefeated in league play in 2014, posted a 7-0 mark in Big 12 matches at No. 1 singles, while Koprcina totaled an 8-0 league mark primarily at No. 2 singles.
TEXAS ENTERS ITA TOP-25
Road wins over Big 12 Conference foes Texas Tech and TCU elevated Texas into the top-25 of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) poll for the first time this season on April 12.
The Longhorns checked in at No. 25 in the April 12 release of the 75-team poll after ranking 35th the week before. Texas made its first appearance in the top-25 of the ITA team rankings since Feb. 10, 2015.
The Longhorns moved up one spot to No. 24 on the heels of their wins over West Virginia and Iowa State. Texas remains at No. 24 heading into the NCAA Championships.
ADDISON RECORDS 100TH SINGLES WIN
Two-time All-America senior Breaunna Addison collected her 100th singles win as a Longhorn in Texas' 5-2 win over Northwestern on March 28.
Addison became the first Longhorn to reach 100 singles wins at Texas since All-American Aeriel Ellis completed the feat in 2013. Now up to 106 singles wins, the former Big 12 Player of the Year sports an impressive 34-3 overall singles record heading into the round of 16 at the NCAA Championships.
Addison has won her last 12 singles decisions dating back to March 5 against Michigan's 14th-ranked Ronit Yurovsky. Addison's only dual-match defeat this season came at the hands of her probable opponent in the round of 16, Pepperdine's sixth-ranked Luisa Stefani.
KOPRCINA SOLIDIFIES TOP OF SINGLES LINEUP
Neda Koprcina has teamed with Addison to give Texas a formidable one-two punch at Nos. 1 and 2 singles. The native of Split, Croatia, holds a 21-1 mark in dual matches with a perfect 14-0 mark at No. 2 singles and an 8-0 league record. Koprcina has won her last 14 singles decisions dating back to her win over Pennsylvania's Ria Vaidya on March 10.
MORE ON THE LONGHORNS
First-year head coach Howard Joffe and second-year assistant coach Courtney Dolehide welcome four starters back from the 2015 squad that finished with a No. 37 national ranking.
The 2016 squad produced a 14-8 regular-season record with neutral-site wins over Purdue and Princeton and home wins over Incarnate Word, UTSA, Michigan, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Northwestern, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Iowa State.
UT opened conference play in mid-March and posted a win at Kansas State and added significant road wins earlier this month at Texas Tech and TCU.
Two-time All-America senior Breaunna Addison returned at the top of the singles lineup after earning All-Big 12 honors in singles and doubles last season.
Sophomore Dani Wagland earned All-Big 12 doubles honors alongside Addison last season. Junior Neda Koprcina is a former Big 12 champion at No. 4 singles.
UT also returns senior Lana Groenvynck and welcomes newcomers Chelsea Crovetti, Daniella Roldan and Katie Poluta.
Players Mentioned
